Masamichi Takahashi

Landforms and Soil Characteristics in Ogawa Forest Reserve

We describe the characteristics of the topography and soils as the substrates of the tree community in Ogawa Forest Reserve (OFR) in this chapter. Metamorphic rocks underlie the OFR, and late Quaternary volcanic ash has been widely deposited in the area. These parent materials affect the characteristics and distribution of soils in the OFR. The topography of OFR is gently undulating, as shown on the contour map (Fig. 3.1). A stream runs from north to south through the center of the reserve. The east-facing valley sideslope is steeper than the west-facing slope.

Carbon Cycling in Teak Plantations in Comparison with Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests in Thailand

Tropical deforestation has become a significant source of increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, hence efforts to promote several actions for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in the international society, one important example of which is afforestation in deforested areas (Gibbs et al., 2007). Recently, Pan et al. (2011) estimated that the global average of the gross emission rate of tropical deforestation was 2.9 petagrams of carbon (Pg C y–1) from 1990 to 2007 and that tropical regrowth forests were partially compensated for by a carbon sink of 1.6 Pg C y–1 within an area of 557 Mha. In contrast, the carbon sink from intact forests, not substantially affected by direct human activities, was 1.19 Pg C y–1 within an area of 1392 Mha, suggesting that tropical plantations acted as strong carbon sinks due to rapid biomass accumulation.